“It’s bad enough shopping with them on a normal day, but today is a day for adults to shop and leave the kids with a babysitter,” said the North Wales resident after arriving at Center Square Shopping Center Friday morning.

Except for her plan of heading in the opposite direction of the multitudes swarming the malls, her Black Friday strategy wasn’t exactly appointed with the same military precision as many of those shoppers.

Decidedly child-free for her shopping expedition, she was more in search of inspiration than door-busting bargains.

“I had to wait a few minutes for a parking spot,” Hoague said. “I’m going into Kohl’s for a few things and then the toy store and that will be it for me.”

Shopping for Christmas toys with the kids along always comes with a needless set of challenges, noted Cheryl Weiss, who wasn’t seeing too many Black Friday kids at Learning Express, the shop she’s owned with her husband, Barry Weiss for nearly three years.

“People are doing Christmas shopping and it’s hard to buy when your child is with you,” she said, as business boomed at the 1301 W. Skippack Pike store. “Nobody likes bringing their kids along when they’re trying to buy gifts for them.”

The store was showing its Black Friday spirit by offering the 6-to-9-a.m. shoppers an additional 10 percent on top of the 20 percent discount available throughout the weekend.

Lone shopper Marcie Winneker, a former teacher for the Wissahickon School District, said that she wouldn’t necessarily mind it if her grandkids were with her that day, as she carefully combed the shelves for the perfect gifts among the unique specialty toys.

“My grandchildren live in Jersey, but if they were here I don’t mind bringing them with me to shop because they like to look at the books. I have a 4-year-old autistic grandchild and they have a very nice selection for sensory and cognitive and verbal skills here,” said the Lower Gwynedd resident.

“So for me it’s great one-stop shopping because I also have a set of 2-year-old twins, and I can get hands-on toys and books for them. I’m not a mall person. I don’t like the crowds and the parking, so I highly recommend this store. They know exactly what I’m looking for and they’re very knowledgeable. You get in and get out,” she added, laughing.

No one here is more knowledgeable than manager Mark Hatcher, who’s been with the 17-year-old store for a decade.

“We really focus on a lot of the skills you would build with kids, such as fine motor skills, cognitive skills, language building, and we really try to enhance those different skills,” he explained.

Like most of the roughly 150 Learning Express shops across the country, the Center Square location is a franchised operation, offering educational toys and games for kids from infancy through teens. The impressive mix includes crafty kits and supplies, science and nature kits, games and puzzles, construction sets, wooden trains, puppets and books.

“There is a list of items that the franchise recommends and we follow about 80 percent of that and add the other 20 percent with things that are prevalent to the area,” noted Barry Weiss. “What’s popular out in California might not be popular here in Pennsylvania.”

While Learning Express carries its share of brainy playthings, much of the inventory is rooted in encouraging kids to have fun while learning.

“We have some highbrow toys like telescopes and high-end microscopes, but we also carry things that are fun … like these,” Barry Weiss said, reaching for Expedition Shoe Lights.

“You tie them to your shoes and they light up when you go out at night,” he explained.

Other hot toys this year include Boogie Board — an LCD writing tablet that is “a modern day Etch-a-Sketch,” noted Hatcher — and the Award-winning Tenzi dice game ($14.99), designed to hone the manipulation component of kids’ fine motor skills.

“Kids play with kids, kids play with adults, adults play with adults and it covers everybody,” Hatcher said.

A favorite with girls, the Loopdedoo Kit ($34.99) allows crafters to create bracelets, backpack pulls, and other accessories from embroidery floss.

While there is some overlap in products with mainstream stores, “what separates us is the customer service,” Hatcher said. “We’re all about being on the sales floor and helping the customer. Other services include wrapping the toy for free, which our customers thoroughly enjoy. So if they’re going to a birthday party on Saturday and only have 10 minutes, they run in and say they need a gift for a 6-year-old boy, we help them find something, wrap it for them and they go straight to the party.”

Personalization may be an extra cost at other stores, but not at Learning Express, he pointed out, producing a once plain white storage box that had been transformed with colorful butterflies and the recipient’s name, at no charge.

Cheryl Weiss said that the company is reaching out more and more to parents, teachers and therapists to let them know the stores carry products that can help them work with special needs children.

“Children, for example, who are having trouble with fine motor skills or cognitive thinking or gross motor skills,” she said. “We carry a bunch of products that can help them facilitate the development of these children. We’re working hard to get it across that we’re not just a store for smart kids. It’s a store for all kids. We have something for every child.”